Frozen Heart
by kittkatt303
Summary: Two years after Elsa's coronation, her control over her powers has degraded. Anna, Elsa's only source of emotional support, is spending most of her time with Kristoff. With her council members plotting against her, four royal siblings from the Southern Isles vying for her attention, and a mysterious icy trouble stirring in the far North, how will Elsa protect her kingdom?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Frozen is in no way mine, and all characters are being temporarily borrowed. I am gaining nothing from this story except a bit of fun.

Prologue

Elsa sighed as she let her weary head fall back to rest on the back of her throne, wincing as the move pulled at her hair. She glanced out the nearby window, feeling a small smile come to her lips at the sight of the Aurora Borealis shining in the sky. Winter was right around the corner, and she could finally let her powers leak a little again without notice. Though her subjects were initially impressed by her control over snow and ice, they soon realized that in a northern Kingdom such as Arendelle, they preferred to bask in the sun when it was present.

A year and a half after the disastrous events of her coronation, the wonder in their eyes had vanished, and she was simply a young woman given the crown too early, and with a potentially fatal temper. She leaned her head down and massaged her temples, then released her hair from its formal bun. A few months after returning, her advisers had mentioned that she should begin to wear it up again, as was proper for an unmarried woman. It was partly a concession to them that she had agreed, and also a measure she had taken when she realized that her hair and blue gown reminded the people of the Snow Queen, and not Elsa, the Queen of Arendelle.

She gazed out at the aurora, then out at the North Mountain. How she longed to return to her ice palace, alone, without advisors and balls and the overwhelming pressure of ruling. She felt a tingle on her skin, and pulled her hands away to examine them. The white gloves that also made her people feel safe were lined with a layer of hoarfrost, betraying the stress that she was feeling. Ruefully, she thought that if her hair weren't so blonde, perhaps it would be more noticeable that she was beginning to show some silver strands amongst the pale yellow. Banishing her gloomy thoughts, Elsa stood and forced a smile on her face, already stiff from the formal courtesy of holding the Commons Court, a formal hearing for the complaints of the common folk that was held twice every week.

As a child, she never realized how much time a ruler spent listening to problems with no solution. This year, it was the grain. The summer had been uncharacteristically cold, and the grain harvest was half of what it should be. The representatives from the sheepholds up in the mountains were already bemoaning the high price of grain, and the weavers were already dreading the price of raw wool next summer. And the common thread that kept running between them all was the unspoken implication that it was Elsa herself, the Snow Queen, the Ice Woman, who had caused the unseasonably cool temperatures this year.

She herself had wondered, but Kai and Gerda had both reassured her that the temperatures had been noticeably lower before she had even been born, so she doubted it. Feeling her numb cheeks with her hands, she made sure her smile was still in place before she left the courtroom. She had spent the last week counting and recounting the royal treasury, looking for extra gold to buy grain from neighboring kingdoms, but the repairs to the fjords and reparations that she had had to pay to the discommoded nobles that had been trapped in Arendelle had taken most of the meager funds. A small kingdom that was frozen half the year hardly made enough money to support itself in the good years, let alone in the bad. She cursed fate once again for seeing fit to give the princess of a snowy kingdom the power to call snow.

Why couldn't she summon gold or food? No, it had to be ice.

As her thoughts turned dark, she felt the hoarfrost on her gloves spread up to her elbows. She frowned and hurried her footsteps, sweeping past servants quickly with barely a nod. She needed to see Anna. The thought of her sister's smiling face was enough to melt the ice from her gloves, and she turned the corner swiftly, bringing a hand up to knock on the door. Three taps, then a softer fourth one was their old knock. She heard giggling behind the door, then Anna's voice.

"Hold on a moment!" More rustling, and then her sister opened the door.

"Elsa?" She asked. "What's wrong?" She said, taking in Elsa's drawn countenance. Elsa let herself sag into the door frame, her faked smile turning real as she felt the rest of the stress-ice fading away from her legs. She had perfected the art of targeting hidden areas to freeze, and it was only on bad days that the ice snuck out to her hands.

"It's the situation with the grain again." She started. Anna groaned.

"Again? Can't you just tell them to get over it and stop asking?" She said.

Elsa looked at her, slightly scandalized. "Of course not, Anna! If I can't figure out what to do, people will go hungry this winter!"

Anna sighed. "I know, I know. It's just… the same complaints get old after a while, don't they?" She said.

Elsa nodded, getting the feeling that Anna was talking more about Elsa's complaints then those of the people. Elsa heard more shuffling in the room, and looked around Anna. Anna flushed and closed the door slightly, but not before Elsa caught sight of Kristoff, pulling on his boots. It was Elsa's turn to blush then, and she looked away.

"I'm sorry, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." She said, flustered. Anna denied it, but Elsa knew a lie when she saw it.

"Ah, I'll just come by another time." Elsa said. She couldn't bury the stab of sorrow that lanced through her when Anna didn't argue, merely offering a weak apology and closing the door. Elsa sighed and rested her forehead on it for a moment, feeling sorry for herself, before pulling away and chiding herself. It was no different from when she was hiding herself away from Anna. She had sat on the other side of that door for ages, listening to her little sister ask her to play. It was fair that now that she was ready to talk, that Anna had moved on. She deserved some happiness.

She left her hand on the door for a second, whispering. "Wanna build a snowman?"

She smiled sadly to herself and turned away, not noticing the imprint of her hand that she left on the door, traced perfectly in fractals of ice.


	2. 1: A City Stroll

Disclaimer: Frozen is in no way mine, and all characters are being temporarily borrowed. I am gaining nothing from this story except a bit of fun.

Chapter One

Elsa walked back to her own room. During the chaos of rebuilding after her coronation, the servants had quietly moved everything she owned into her parents' old room. When she protested, feeling like an interloper, she been brushed aside. The regent lived in the regent's quarters, and that was that. Elsa shook her head fondly. Most of her decisions were made by advisors, and most of their decisions, as well as Elsa's own, were made in turn by the servants of the castle.

It made its own kind of sense, she decided. Who better then to run a country then its own people? At the same time, she wished that she still had her old room. When she had looked in on it a year ago, she had been shocked to see that the room had quietly been refurbished, all of the frozen, warped, and splintered wood removed, and new dark wood gleaming in its place.

Her frown faltered for a moment when she remembered each of the mistakes that had caused her room to become such a disaster. Her parents had told her each time she damaged her room that she must live with it. She supposed that it was their way of trying to motivate her to control her powers, as if protecting her sister wasn't enough.

She glanced up at the portrait of them that still hung in the room as she entered. They were both smiling, young, a portrait commissioned on their wedding day. She reached up and caressed her mother's cheek, proud when ice crystals didn't trace her movement.

When she had first moved in, she had decorated the room with ice, creating lavish bedspreads, falls of frozen water, and wall hangings of woven ice, using her newfound control to keep the original walls safe under her decorations. She had been so happy to be accepted, to be alright. But when she realized that Anna avoided the room because it was so cold, and that the servants whispered about the strangeness of it, Elsa had removed them, slowly stripping every trace of ice from the room until it no longer felt like hers.

The only remnant of her magic that she kept was her blue gown, hanging alone in a corner of her closet. None of the servants dared touch it, but hung around it were gowns of red and gold, green and brown, colors of earth and fire. Elsa knew that the rich colors did her pale coloration no favors, but she was willing to try anything to gain the trust of her people, and changing her clothes was a small concession. She closed her eyes.

"Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know." She whispered, than shook her head.

That was her old axiom. She needed a new one, now that they did know. She thought wistfully back to her week on the mountain. She had been so free then, so happy. At that time, she thought her new motto would be "let it go." She let out a bitter laugh. If only she had stayed up there, if only she had somehow sent Anna away without hurting her…

She quashed that thought. She was only here because of Anna.

She had to be here for Anna, and here she would stay. She wished that she could simply hand the throne to her, but when she had tried Anna had laughed, telling her that she would make a terrible queen. Deep in her heart, Elsa knew she was right. The way that she had simply brushed off the grain crisis earlier was testament to that, and though Elsa hated the pressure of the crown, she still loved her smiled wryly. Well, she loved the idea of them, anyways. The ones that came and complained at her every day, not so much.

She sat on the edge of her bed, running her fingers along the dark red quilting. The giant bed had been able to easily fit her, Anna, and both her parents back when they were young, with room to spare. Of course, that was back before her parents had separated the two of them. She wished, not for the first time, that she had just gone back to sleep that night that Anna had wanted to play. How different her life would have been if not for that accident… spirals of frost radiated out from her hand, and she snatched it back to her chest. She needed to shake this mood. She stood, opening her closet and gathering a nondescript cloak and a pair of gloves.

If Anna was too busy, perhaps she would simply walk amongst her people and regain her control that way. She pulled the hood up over her distinctive platinum hair and left the castle, striding into the city in the crisp twilight of late autumn. The city was thrumming with life, even with the foreknowledge of a hard winter, and couples were everywhere, strolling together, eating together, sitting together.

Elsa winced. She had forgotten that it was Lover's Day, a day that celebrated pairings. No wonder Anna had been with her Kristoff.

She stole through the crowd, taking in the sights and smells of a busy city. She often took strolls like this when her royal duties became too much for her. She would come to the city, watch her people, and let her love for her people melt away the edges of ice that prodded at her heart.

She observed a pair of children, no older than four, who were playing in and around the stables. They played tag, chasing each other around and around until the little girl finally caught the boy, tackling him to the ground. They both laughed, and the girl pressed a kiss to his cheek and ran away. The boy made a show of wiping off his cheek with a grimace, but Elsa could see his glowing grin.

Their antics made her happy, but at the same time they magnified the nagging feeling that she'd been having for a while now, around Anna and Kristoff. She couldn't quite place it. A youth spent hiding her emotions -_concealdon'tfeel- _left her ill equipped to recognize them when they occurred.

She pushed the motto away now, with all her being, but it simply wouldn't go, wrapping itself tightly around the negative emotion. So she instead focused on the happiness she felt at seeing the boy, and let the ice inside her melt a little.

She moved on, observing the town late into the night, letting down her walls little by little.

(Page Break)

Later, many hours past sundown, found Elsa sitting in the common room of an inn, drinking a mug of truly horrific beer. She had ordered it so as not to stand out, but had only managed to drink a mouthful, spitting it back out immediately.

She delicately patted her mouth on a napkin, discreetly summoning a chip of ice to wash her mouth out with, and placed the mug back on the table, pushing in back and forth between the tips of her fingers.

In the half-light of the inn, she let her hood slip down, allowing her bangs to fall in messy strands around her face. She admired the flickering shadows that the fire cast on the back wall, and simply let the sounds of the inn wash over her. A man in the corner was playing the tambourine and singing a Lover's Day song. A couple in the corner where whispering to each other and laughing.

The man behind the bar was cleaning out wooden mugs with a clean cloth, and every time he set one down it made a solid thunk against the wooden counter. A woman who might have been the innkeep's wife was stirring a pot of stew over the fire, murmuring a lullaby to a baby who dozed in her lap. Elsa smiled at the sight.

So enthralled with the sounds and flickering lights of the fire, Elsa didn't notice the man walking up to her until a large hand grasped her shoulder. She jumped, barely keeping herself from sending out defensive spikes of ice, and looked up.

The man didn't seem to recognize her, and the smell of alcohol around him told Elsa that he probably couldn't recognize his own mother at that point. He looked somewhat like Kristoff, she thought; big, blonde, and dumb. She winced. That had been less then charitable… She steadied her gaze and gripped the mug more tightly.

"Can I… help you?" She asked warily. The big man smiled down at her.

"Heeeeey li'l lady!" He boomed, gaining the attention of most of the room. Elsa tensed in fear. One of these people would probably notice who she was, and then what would happen? Would they all run? Would the woman at the fire push her child behind her, protecting it?

"I noticed you were here all alone, on Lover's Day!" The drunkard continued. Elsa shrunk back, mortified. He leaned in, as if to whisper to her, but overbalanced and slammed his hand into the table, coming abruptly into her personal space.

Elsa jumped with a squeak, and a shot of uncontrolled power froze her beer entirely. She began to panic, trying to stuff the magic away, but only made it worse. The ice spread in crackling patterns along the table, and began to drip over the sides. The other patrons began to whisper, and a few men got up, moving over to their table. Elsa's breath began to come faster, remembering the men who came to her castle of ice and tried to kill her. She dodged out from under the drunk man and fled the inn, leaving perfectly frozen footprints in her wake.

She ran until she reached the safety of the castle gates, and continued until she reached her old room, slamming the door and leaning back on it, letting herself slump to the floor. The fear she had suppressed came spiraling out of her, lashing at the newly refurbished room. Her power spread throughout the wood, taking all the tiny pieces of water vapor and freezing them into cystals that grew and burst through the wood.

She slammed her fists down on the ground attempting to regain control, but only managed to start a sheet of ice over the floor which extended out until the entire room was covered in a layer of ice two hand spans high. She dropped her head into her hands, feeling hot tears come to her eyes as the frustration of being unable to control her powers mixed with the residual fear of being found out and attacked in the town. She curled up in the middle of the icy floor and let her tears fall.

(Page Break)

(Back at the Inn)

"Thomas!" The innkeep scolded, waving down his bouncers. The two men almost didn't stand down- their inn was well known as one that the queen visited on her "secret" outings. Part of the reason that they had so much patronage was that people came in specifically to catch a glance of the elusive Snow Queen. Thomas looked up blearily and sat down where the little queen had been a moment ago.

"Whaaat?" He said. The innkeep scowled.

"The queen has been coming here for almost two years, and tonight was the first time she ever let down her hood. For some reason she's afraid to be seen, and now you've made her leave for good! I'd be surprised if she ever came back!" Thomas' eyes widened comically.

"Tha' was the queen?" He squeaked. He felt himself over, checking for damage. "Rolf, why didn' ya tell me?" He complained. The innkeep folded his hands over his large chest.

"I would think you'd be able to see on your own." He pointed out drily. "And stop that- the queen has never hurt anyone in this town. In fact, all the little one miss watching her do her magic!" Rolf winced.

"I know, I know! Just, a man worries." He said. Thomas frowned, and turned away, walking up to his wife. She looked up at him with sad eyes.

"I wonder what that poor lass is thinking." She whispered, taking care not to wake her baby.

"She was so lovely when she came back from the mountain, all free and confident… I was sure that she would become a Snow Queen, just like in the old tales, when the Snow Queen protected us from winter storms and fought off bandits and armies with just her power." She continued.

Thomas smiled down at her, lifting the baby from her lap. "I'm sure she will, Eliza. Just give her some time to adjust. She's still frightened of her powers, and that sister of hers is still afraid to be hurt again."

Eliza sighed. "I can understand that, but I wish the princess would try harder. Or maybe…" She trailed off. Thomas looked at her, curious.

"Maybe Queen Elsa needs a man of her own!" She finished, standing. Thomas shrugged.

"Why would she need a man?" He asked, confused. "Besides for an heir, but she's still so young."

Eliza laughed at him. "If you had sisters you'd understand." She said. "Sibling love is huge and powerful, and your siblings will always stand with you on the big things. But sometimes, what you need is someone to stand with you on the little things." Thomas shrugged.

"Whatever you say, dear." He said, than kissed the baby on the forehead as she stirred from sleep.

"But I think little Elsa here needs to be put down for the night." He turned away to the back room, leaving his wife to tend the bar for now. Maybe his wife was right. Maybe the little queen needed a confidant who was more available than her sister, but there were no visiting royalty, and heaven only knew that if the youngest princess was going to marry for love, the Queen must marry for politics. He sighed. Poor Queen Elsa. Life never seemed to cut her a break.

A/N: So is Elsa right? Do her subjects fear her, or is she simply projecting her fear onto them? Does Eliza have a point, and Elsa needs someone who puts her first? I suppose we'll see next time!


	3. 2: An Unexpected Letter

Disclaimer: Frozen is in no way mine, and all characters are being temporarily borrowed. I am gaining nothing from this story except a bit of fun.

Chapter 2

The early morning light slanted through the window and fell on Elsa's cheek, slowly moving up her face until it shined across closed eyelids. Pale blue eyes blinked open slowly in response, and Elsa sat up, disoriented for a moment until she realized where she was. Regretfully, she ran her eyes along the damage that her ice had caused in the wood of the room. Luckily, the ice had receded as she slept, so she didn't have to try and dredge up feelings of love and kindness to melt it.

She stumbled to her feet, smoothing flyaway tendrils of her hair back to her head, and winced as she caught sight of herself in a mirror that had survived the onslaught of ice that she had released. Her eyes were puffy and red from her crying, and as she scrubbed at them with her hands they felt gritty and sore. Her head ached, and there was a crick in her neck from sleeping on the floor. It seemed that her escapade into the city was more trouble than it was worth, and she had ended up more stressed then before.

With a tired sigh, she glanced out the window. The sun had just barely crested the mountains, and she hadn't yet heard the morning bell. There was still time to sneak back into her rooms and get a bath before it was time to meet with her advisers today. She quickly removed her black boots and snuck along the corridor of the hallway back towards the Regent's Room. Her stocking feet barely made a sound as they brushed over the stone corridors, and Elsa made a note that when there was extra money, she should purchase rugs for the hallways.

She had made quite a tradition of sneaking about the castle in the last year or so, and carpets were much more conducive to muffling footsteps than stone floors. She determinedly ignored the irony of a monarch sneaking about in her own hallways, and slipped through the large Dutch doors of the Regent's Room. She closed the doors behind her and heaved a relieved sigh. If her advisers had caught wind of her being absent from her rooms all night, she wasn't sure what they would do!

She rolled her eyes. Sometimes she felt more like an errant child then a Queen when they spoke to her, but she supposed that was probably due to the fact that all of her counselors had advised her parents as well. Sometimes she thought that it might be coming time to replace them, but then she had no idea who to replace them with, and let it go.

She turned around to step into the room, and heard a small squeak and a crash. Below the window stood a young boy, no older than seven, with brown hair and lively amber eyes that were currently welling with tears. At his feet were the remains of a wooden toy ship that he had apparently dropped when she had turned around, startling him.

"Y-y-y-your Majesty!" He stuttered. "Mama sent me to ask if you would want a bath this morning, and then I couldn't find you, and I didn't know what to do! I wasn't snooping, I swear!" Elsa stepped forward, and the boy backed away hastily.

"I'm sorry! I won't do it again! Don't turn me into an icicle!" He said. Elsa felt her heart constrict at the fear in the boys eyes, and went down to one knee. She couldn't let the boy leave thinking that she was some sort of monster, especially if he lived in the castle! She scooped the toy ship off the floor and looked over it with a critical eye.

"Is this yours?" She asked mildly. The boy nodded fearfully.

Elsa smiled at him gently, than ran her hand over the ship. As her hand passed over it, hoarfrost spread over the wood, shoring up broken beams and patching the hole in the hull. The snapped masts were righted, and with a thought she created exceedingly thin strands of ice that wove together into several triangular sails. The same technique created nets and ropes, and also a string that ran from the bow of the boat. With another thought, Elsa enchanted the ship to float on an omnipresent flurry of snow, and as she pulled it towards the boy snow and ice lightly sprayed from the glittering icy silver-blue boat as if it were forging through water.

She smiled at the boy. "What is the name of this fine ship?" She asked. The boy stared at his toy, transfixed by the show of magic, then looked up at her shyly.

"The _Aurora._" He said. Elsa flinched back in shock, but recovered quickly and wrote the name on the side of the boat in shining white letters. The _Aurora _was the ship that her parents had been on when they had passed away. She pushed the finished toy towards the boy, who pulled it through the air in glee several times, and leaped forward, surprising Elsa with a hug.

"Thank you so much, Miss Queen Elsa!" He said. Elsa recovered quickly from her shock and embraced the boy and resting her cheek on his head. He pulled away quickly, his cheeks flushing as he realized his breach of protocol. Elsa smiled at him, standing back up and pulling back on her mantle of dignity as Queen.

"Tell your mother that I would love a bath." She said to the boy. He dropped a bow, than ran out of the room, delightedly watching his new toy as it floated behind him, throwing out a wake of sparkling snow. Elsa smiled as she watched him go. Maybe that would be one more person in her castle who thought of her as a person first, and the "Snow Queen" second. Deep in the castle, the rich tone of a bell tolled once, then again. It was the wake up bell, and Elsa smiled when she realized that the servants had adjusted to her habit of waking up early, which was why the boy had come looking for her before the morning bell.

She began to unbutton her blouse in preparation for her bath as a procession of servants came through the bedroom, carrying buckets of hot water from the kitchen to the stone tub in her bathroom. When the tub was half filled, Elsa touched a servant on the shoulder and smiled.

"That's enough water for me, thanks." She said. The servant dropped a curtsey and left, used to her oddities. Elsa took a deep breath and filled her head with the boys grin as she stepped into the bath and undid her hair. As her feet entered the bath, she caught a fleeting sensation of warmth before her icy cold skin began to cool the bath. She immediately immersed herself and soaped her hair, rinsing it out and piling it atop her head. In record time, she soaped and rinsed her limbs, and leapt out of the bath just as forming a skin of ice was forming over the water.

She smiled, satisfied. After striking Anna in her childhood, it had taken her almost a year to take a bath again, for as soon as she put a toe in the bath it had frozen solid, no matter how hot it was. Over the years she had perfected the art of the quick bath, and also of pushing away the fear and the stress. She brushed her hair, carefully detangling the long tresses before running her fingers through it, a careful application of power causing all of the water to turn to minuscule pieces of ice that fell out of her hair, leaving it dry.

She smiled to herself, a small quirk of her lips. She'd never had problems using her power- in fact, it seemed to enjoy being used, running down her arms and out her fingers and doing anything that she imagined. It was only when she tried to limit the power, to control it or not use it, that it rebelled. She felt herself starting to glance with longing towards the North Mountain, but strictly forced herself not to as she braided her hair with the ease of long practice and pinned it up over the crown of her head.

She grabbed a silk shift and the first clean gown in her wardrobe and pulled them over her head, fingers efficiently lacing the bodice. She hadn't had servants in the years between her accident with Anna and her coronation, and found that she disliked having servants do things that she could do for herself. Sitting in front of the mirror, she applied a touch of makeup to her eyes and pinched her cheeks until the pale whiteness flushed red, a habit that she had developed to try and hide the paleness of her complexion. She took a deep breath and stood, fixing a smile on her lips and heading out the door to face another day.

As she exited the door, a bevy of attendants and heralds flocked to her. Gerda got there first, beating the others out of the way and glaring around until they subsided, and then pressed a hot cup of tea and a biscuit on Elsa, frowning thunderously until Elsa ate the biscuit and took a sip of tea. When Elsa passed the tea back to Gerda, the other servants crowded in around her. Several of them carried scrolls and letters dripping wax and seals.

Elsa grabbed one by the elbow and employed him in gathering the rest of the missives and taking them to the council room. The rest carried gifts or verbal messages. They, in turn, were directed to leave their package with the butler downstairs, Kai, or to find a scribe to write down their messages and send them to the council room. As those departed, only three servants remained. The first two were seeking for her permission to marry, which she granted, and the last was an older woman whom she had seen around the castle. She dropped a curtsy when Elsa nodded to her.

"I just wanted to thank you, Ma'am." She said. Elsa looked at her, confused, until she continued.

"My son, Odvin. He came running into the kitchens today with the ship you fixed for him, just glowing! I haven't seen him so happy in a long time."

"You see, his father perished with your parents on the ship _Aurora, _and even though it's been five years and he was only four at the time, he misses his father greatly." The woman curtsied again. "It was just so wonderful to see a smile on his face, milady, and I wanted to thank you." Elsa smiled at her.

"It was nothing, really. I am glad to have made a difference." She said.

The servant curtsied again, and left with a bright smile for Elsa. Elsa paused for a moment, feeling the kernel of warmth inside her chest glowing with happiness. She cherished the feeling, standing still in the middle of the hallway, and then continued on towards the council room, her smile now real.

She hummed to herself as she stepped through the doors, then stopped and wished she could turn right around and leave again. Only five of the fifteen advisers were in the room, but currently all five of them were embroiled in a shouting argument.

Elsa leaned against the doors for a moment, then gathered herself and cleared her throat, stepping further into the room.

"What is the problem here?" She asked, projecting her voice over the argument in a calm and clear voice that she had been cultivating. Four of the five counselors looked abashed, but the one woman in the room was still furious. Aada turned to her, color high in her cheeks.

"These _imbiciles," _Aada hissed, "Want to marry you off to the highest bidder." Elsa reared back, surprised.

"What?" Was all she managed to say.

One of the councilmen stepped forward in his own defense. "We believe that it will solve the grain crisis." Said Falke. "If we can get them to bring with them money or grain, we can avert this crisis before it even happens." Elsa raised a single white-gold eyebrow. "And as soon as the grain crisis is over, what will we do about the next crisis?" She asked crisply. The other three councilman looked abashed, but Falke was undeterred. He shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. This is now, and that is in the future. We need to focus on the needs of today first." He said.

Elsa nodded, processing this argument. "I see your point." She said. "However, a royal marriage is something that the entire council needs to have a say in, and there is only a third of you here. I am also not convinced that a marriage is the cure to our troubles, and I believe that my consent is needed for this." Elsa said clearly.

Falke nodded in agreement to Elsa, and sat down to await the rest of the council. Though he kept his face clear, he couldn't help the surprise that bubbled up within him. Elsa tended to sit back and let the council work out the plan of action, throwing in an idea here and there, and then she would usually accept the plan that they proposed. He frowned, reminiscing.

When Elsa had come to the throne, he and his cronies had decided that a young orphan queen would make a good puppet. They had plotted with the Duke of Weselton to marry the girl off. When she had shown signs of having powers over ice, they had thought that all their careful planning had been for naught. However, after the eventful coronation, he had noticed that Elsa was frightened by the idea that her people could dislike her, and since then they had been using that against her. It was just too easy for them to spread rumors here and there that Elsa was temperamental, tilting the public's impression of her towards fear. For the servants in the castle who knew that she wasn't ever aggressive, they spread the rumor that she was shy and liked her solitude, which kept them away from her. For the people in the city who wanted a snow queen of legend, they simply put pressure on Elsa to wear her hair up and to put away her Ice Queen gown. Without the trappings that the populace associated with Elsa's ice powers, and with Elsa hiding all her powers from them, they began to doubt that she had caused all the chaos of her coronation.

And removing Anna from Elsa was just as easy. They had all agreed that for his service to the crown, the commoner Kristoff should be elevated to a dukedom, making him a suitable suitor for her. Anna was so wrapped up in Kristoff that she barely had time for her sister, and so the small group of councilmen managed to isolated Elsa. Falke himself sometimes forgot that the meek and shy woman who sat in the council room with them was capable of sending the country into yearlong winter. He wasn't sure what had caused her to reject his ideas this time, except possibly for Aada taking a side against him. Only four of the fifteen councilmen plotted with him, but between the five of them they were usually able to convince the other ten councilmen and Elsa that they were right, and only one person was required to spread rumors.

A chair scraped next to him, and he looked up as the last of the council members filed into the room. He glanced around the room, making eye contact with each of his allies.

Elsa stirred from her seat at the head of the table and stood, raising the formal gavel delicately in her right hand. She glanced back at the scribe in the corner of the room and nodded to alert him that they were beginning, and brought the gavel down.

In the quiet that followed, she announced, "Let the council meeting of the fifteenth day of the Mead Moon on the second year of Queen Elsa begin."

She looked around the rectangular table, making eye contact with each of the fifteen councilors. "Today we will be discussing daily matters for the first half of the meeting, followed by proposals and ideas, and then we will finish by going through the mail that we have received in the last week." Elsa brought down the gavel once more, and then sat.

Aada stood to begin discussing the daily matters of running the Kingdom, and Elsa spaced out slightly, beginning to prepare her arguments against an arranged marriage.

(Line Break)

All too soon, the daily matters were taken care of, and Falke stood to make his point, presenting his argument clearly and cleanly. "In order to avert the grain crisis and make money for the country, I propose that we seek suitors for Queen Elsa. A noble alliance would allow the country to bring in more money, and the gifts that suitors bring to Queen Elsa could be sold for money or used to assist the people."

"Also, Queen Elsa has been seated on the throne for two years and has yet to produce an heir, and thus a marriage is necessary. I have prepared a list of men with whom we should seek an alliance, and I propose that today we should choose several men and send an offer of alliance."

Aada looked distressed by the proposition, but another council member spoke up before Aada could. Marthon stood, taking the next turn to speak.

"While I think it is somewhat extreme and less than regal to sell gifts sent in the spirit of courtship, I too believe that Arendelle could use a new alliance. If the young princess is going to marry for love, then Queen Elsa must marry for political reasons. I second the proposal to select from Falke's list." Marthon nodded to Falke, and sat down. Falke hid a smile.

It was a strategy of theirs; Falke would make an outlandish proposition, and then one of his allies would temper it. The tempered idea usually made much more sense than the extreme one, and the council tended to like compromises.

Aada and a man called Pai rose at the same time. Aada nodded Pai to speak first, as he was one of the oldest and most respected amongst the council.

"Queen Elsa should be allowed to choose her own husband." Pai stated.

"Though it is true that we need a political marriage to stabilize Arendelle, there are many men of marriageable age with profitable gifts amongst whom she could choose."

"It may take longer, but I believe that the best plan must be for Queen Elsa to announce her intention to marry, and to open the gates to any suitors who may be interested. Then, between Queen Elsa's opinion and that of the council, we shall choose a suitor who is amenable to both the needs of the country and the desires of the Queen."

Aada stood as Pai sat, clearly agitated.

"It is not necessary for the Queen to marry at all!" She said, glaring about at the assembled council.

"Queen Elsa has been doing a wonderful job at running the country on her own, and to seek an alliance when we are admittedly at a low point invites foreign interference with the affairs of Arendelle."

"It also conveys the idea that we are weak, and with Weselton sniffing around our borders and our strained relations with the Southern Isles, I think we need to consolidate our political powers instead of undermining ourselves."

Malta, another woman on the council, Pai, and councilman Lares nodded in agreement. Falke scowled. It was looking as if the council was going to divide on the issue, which meant that Elsa got the final say. He was about to stand when Elsa herself stood, gathering her dignity around her like a robe. He let himself drop back into his chair, startled by the fact that the Queen was speaking out of turn, in his opinion. Elsa cleared her voice and spoke.

"I respect that councilmen Falke and Marthon believe that the country would be advantaged by my marriage, but I am afraid that many of your points are invalid. My first point is that I do indeed have an heir. If I were to meet an accident, I have already placed my sister Anna as my heir. As Marthon has said, it is completely against tradition to sell the gifts of courtship, and I will not be known as a beggar Queen.

"As I have been looking over finances for the last year, it has become increasingly obvious that we do not have the money to host a large amount of princes in the way that they are accustomed, and that is an insult that we cannot afford to give visiting royalty.

"On a more personal note, I would like to remind the council that I have been Queen Regent of the land of Arendelle for two years now, and not one offer of courtship has come forward. I am left to believe that the men of other countries are most likely intimidated by tales that they have heard of my coronation, and will most likely not consider Co-Regency of Arendelle to be suitable compensation for my powers. I am not willing to step down from regency and allow my husband full control at this time.

"I am also not, personally, interested in marriage. This last alone is reason enough for me to reject this entire proposal, and to close the issue with my powers as queen. Unless the entire council will vote to overturn my decision, it will stand." She glanced around the room. Aada stood.

"I cast my vote with the queen." She declared.

Malta and Lares seconded Aada. Elsa smiled and brought down the gavel, ending the conversation.

Falke stewed in impotent rage. He had not thought that Elsa would ever use her power as regent to entirely reject his proposal. She had never done such before! And at least a fifth of the council had stood with her, and several others seemed indifferent. He fumed. It wasn't often that he mistook the attitude of the council, but it appeared that today he had. Elsa smiled at the council's prolonged silence.

"If there are no other business details, we will begin to open the mail." She stated. The council murmured assent, still a little surprised by the Queen taking charge. Aada grinned at Elsa, proud of the young woman. Elsa sent a small smile back at her. The two had been working together to work on Elsa's presentation and poise, and Elsa was surprised by how good it had felt to take control of her own council room for once. She beamed at the council in a rare good mood, and accepted her pile of mail with grace.

Mail to the Kingdom of Arendelle was difficult to manage. Like mail any kingdom, the envelope could contain any variety of poisons or toxins, and so it was opened by a well-paid and highly anxious scribe. The same scribe sorted the mail into several piles; missives from other kingdoms regarding social niceties and invitations, letters about trading or money, and then mail from various people within the kingdom.

Today, Elsa was helping to wade through social letters. Due to the quick approach of autumn, she had made several sub-piles. There was no way that they could send any ambassadors across the sea with the approach of winter, so invitations went to the pile of "politely say no." As Elsa worked her way through the letters, that was the only large pile that she had. There were a few very late congratulations on her coronation, and a few offers for the hand of her sister, which were amusing to her.

There was also Olaf's obligatory letter; the jolly snowman sent a letter at least every week telling her and Anna all about the various tropical places that he was visiting with the trade ship he had hitched a ride on. She checked the date. This one was from early spring, which meant the snowman was at least a six month's journey away by the fast missive boats. She hoped that he found a safe place to spend the choppy autumn and dangerous winter seas.

As she neared the end of the pile, she found one letter that she hadn't been expecting. As she read through the elegant script, she blinked, than blinked again. She checked the date of the letter, and then read it again. She was on her third read through when it finally sank in.

Her eyebrows rose, first one, then another, as she read it for a fourth time.

_Dear Queen Elsa, Regent of Arendelle, Guardian of the Mountain Pass, Lady of the Fjords, and Jewel of the North. _

_As an apology for the deplorable behavior of our youngest son, the Kingdom of the Southern Isles is sending to you four of our other children to join your court. All four are trained in social graces, court etiquette, and gallantry, and our sons are also trained in the way of the sword, the horse, and the ship. _

_Prince Lars is our third child. He is a scholar of history and of the patterns of stars, as well as a voracious reader. He is blonde of hair and brown of eye. He is a serious man of calm temperament, aged five-and-thirty. If we may suggest a role for him, Prince Lars has been an invaluable asset to our royal coin keeper over the years, and at times it seems that he is able to produce coins out of thin air._

_Prince Edmund is our ninth child. He, like his brother Lars is a scholar, but he is also a fair swordsman. Prince Edmund is still looking for his special skills in life, and we look forward to what he will do when he is away from his brothers. He is light of hair and blue of eye, and possessed of an even temper. His years number five-and-twenty_

_Prince Tane is our tenth child. He is quick of wit and quicker with a sword. Many of our citizens mourn his leaving, due to his quick wit and charm. He is dark of hair and blue of eye, and an avid horseman. Prince Tane has served as third-in-command of the Southern Isle's infantry for the last four years, and has a good mind for strategy. Prince Tane is a young man of three-and-twenty._

_Princess Saina is our youngest daughter and our eleventh child, a bright and lovely lady of nine-and-ten, in between the ages of Your Majesty and Your sister. She is light of hair and dark of eye, well accomplished at drawing, singing, embroidery, and the playing of the harp. She is bright and pleasant to speak to, and we send her with the hopes that you will bring her into your court as a lady-in-waiting. _

_All of our children have been thoroughly observed and have none of the character flaws of Hans, who was regrettably ambitious. All four of the children have ambitions, but none of them are willing to do any damage in order to attain them, and none of them desire to win a throne through dishonest means._

_Please accept this offer of my kith and kin in repayment of the offense offered you. If any of them displease you, please return them by boat and we will offer our sincerest apologies, as well as severe punishment to them. Their boat is scheduled to arrive in late autumn, along with a gift for your nation._

_Our most sincere apologies once again, and we hope for future peaceful relations between our peoples. _

_Signed, _

_King Markoff, King Regent of the Southern Isles, Lord of the Crystal Waters, Guardian of the Seas._

With a sigh, Elsa stood and read the letter aloud, then sank into her seat to weather the flurry of conversation that followed the news of impending royal arrival.


	4. 3: A Very Long Voyage

A/N: Whoops! Accidentally posted my first draft on the last chapter- I think I fixed it now. Sorry about that. Also noticed that Saada and Aada basically had the same name; the princess is now Saina, the counselor is still Aada.

Got my first ever review, which was exciting. I'm glad to know that people are actually reading this thing! In response to the comment that it is cliché, I know. I am so sorry. I'm working on it; I hope that as I get more into the meat of the story that it'll settle out some.

Aaaaand: I know that Hans technically has 12 older BROTHERS, but artistic license here.

Chapter 3: A Very Long Voyage

The ship's deck heaved and tilted in the swells of the sea as delicately slippered feet pounded across it. The young woman paused for a moment, clinging to the mast to catch her breath as dark brown eyes danced in amusement.

"Tane!" She cried, attempting to sound angry. "Give me back my embroidery!" Her laughing brother took a quick step backwards, waving a small white square in his hand.

"Oh, this? I thought this was a handkerchief! Isn't all this stuff on it noodles or something?" He taunted, bringing it to his face as if he were going to blow his nose into it. Saina ran forward to rescue her project, huffing angrily when Tane lifted it up out of her reach. She stood on her tiptoes, bracing herself on his shoulder and her brother teasingly held it just out of her reach.

"Tane!" She pouted, stomping a small foot and holding out her hand demandingly. "Give it back right now!" Tane sighed, lowering the scrap of fabric. As Saina snatched for it, he teasingly pulled it back, dodged her return swipe with ease, and raced off in the other direction, laughing merrily. Saina followed him, stopping to remove one of her shoes and throw it at the back of his head before kicking off the other one and pelting after him.

From his seat perched atop a crate of goods, Edmund rolled his eyes at his siblings, sharing a commiserating glance with his older brother, Lars.

"You'd think they'd get tired of this game," Edmund said, pitching his voice to carry. "They've only been playing it every day for the last," He checked a small black book in his hands. "Oh, forty three days." He blew a tuft of sandy brown hair out of his eyes with displeasure. He needed a haircut and a good shave, but the seas had been too rough in the last several days for him to brave a sharp blade near his throat. Saina and Tane ignored him completely, and Lars smiled at him condescendingly.

"They're just children, Edmund. Let them be." He said softly. Edmund glared at him, resenting his good mood. The man had a well maintained beard and wore his shoulder length, blond hair in a low pony at the back of his neck, and wasn't bothered by his inability to shave or his unbarbered state. He didn't even seem to be ruffled by the heat or the rough seas, which was entirely unfair. Lars returned his attention to the nautical chart in his lap and his golden sextant. It was right about noon, and Lars was checking to make sure that the ship was still on the correct course. They were supposed to have made landfall ten days past.

Edmund let his upper body flop back onto the cargo he was sitting on, positioning himself in as much shade as he could find from the noonday sun. He was broiling hot, which wasn't helping his poor mood at all. With a frustrated sigh, he began to strip out of his black vest and white undershirt. Lars looked up at him, frowning.

"You'll burn your skin." He pointed out mildly. Edmund simply huffed at him and dropped his clothes in a pile by Lars' feet, setting the black journal on top of it and grabbing a wooden bucket from a nearby pile. He carefully lowered it into the sea after attaching a rope to the handle, filling it with water before pulling it back up hand over hand. When he had the bucket securely on deck, he upended it over himself, enjoying the momentary cold shock of water. The seawater darkened his fair hair and plastered the shaggy strands to his forehead as it ran down his face and chest in rivulets, wetting the light trousers he wore. He shook his head like a dog, blowing water off of his upper lip to keep the salty drops from touching his tongue. Though they were ten days past their landing date, they hadn't run out of fresh water yet; however, Edmund knew better then to carelessly drink from their stores.

Saina and Tane returned from the bow of the ship, this time at a walk. The precious embroidery was clutched in Saina's hand, and she was carefully smoothing it out as they walked, half-heartedly scolding Tane for rumpling it. Her slippers hung from his hands.

"What is that thing, anyways?" Edmund asked as they came within hearing distance. "You've been working on it for a long time." Saina held out the white fabric, using her fingers to pull it taught.

"It's a snowflake, for Queen Elsa." She said proudly. Edmund raised his eyebrows and Tane let out a low whistle, gently taking the fabric from her hands to get a better look.

"Damn that's elaborate." He said admiringly. Saina chuckled.

"Are you telling me that in all the times that you've stolen that, you haven't looked at it even once?" She asked incredulously. Tane shook his head, still examining the embroidery work. The snowflake was incredibly intricate, around the size of his hand and picked out in threads of white, silver, and a multitude of blues. He handed it back carefully.

"Well now what am I going to steal?" He asked halfheartedly. "That thing's too pretty to risk anymore." He pouted and Saina rolled her eyes, reclaiming her shoes and putting them on. She tugged exasperatedly at the chin strap of the bonnet protecting her fair skin from the elements and looked at Edmund with jealous eyes.

"I wish I could just strip clothing off." She complained. Edmund and Tane snorted back a laugh, and Lars took a moment away from his careful calculations to send a disapproving glare at Saina.

"What?" She said, amused. "The only people out here who can hear me are you guys and the sailors. You're my brothers, and I know the sailors have heard a lot worse than that!"

A nearby sailor chuckled and nodded to her. "You'd be right on that one, miss!" He said happily, "Plus, half o' us have known ya' since ya' was a wee lil' lass." He said, a smile creasing his nut-brown, weathered face. Saina beamed back at the man, and then smiled smugly at her brothers. Neither of them bothered to reply. She was right and they knew it. Tane grinned at Edmund, slapping his bare shoulder.

"Hey brother, it looks like you are all ready to spar!" He said. Edmund sighed, shrugging the hand off.

"Must we?" He asked. "It's too hot…" He said, rolling his eyes.

"Psh. You're just yellow and you know I'm going to beat you again!" He said good-naturedly. "And if you keep rolling your eyes, you're going to roll them right out of your head." He chided, catching Edmund in the middle of doing just that. Guiltily Edmund stopped, and groaned lightly to himself as Tane stripped of his shirt and went to find a weapon.

"Are we dueling today, or are we actually combat training?" He asked, picking through a barrel of practice armaments. Behind him Edmund shrugged.

"Doesn't matter to me," He said glumly. "You're still gonna give me a royal beating." Tane turned around, tossing a wooden claymore at Edmund. Edmund caught it with one hand, and grasped the wooden hilt in both, settling into a wide stance. Tane smirked. He knew that Edmund was better at fencing than he was at actual combat, and he was enjoying the look of irritation on his brother's face. He grabbed one of the more exotic weapons out of the barrel, a wooden replica of a hook sword. In a normal blade, it was sharp on one edge, with the back edge rising up into a hook meant to catch a foe's blade and disarm them. He pointed it at Edmund's feet. "Wider stance." He barked, watching as Edmund obeyed. "Shoulders higher, more square."

Edmund glared at him. "Believe it or not, I am your big brother. Don't teach me how to fight." He snapped, his bad mood from earlier not completely gone. Tane laughed, holding up his sword in surrender before sliding into a defensive pose. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that the sailors who had no pressing tasks were appearing to watch. He smirked as he saw Edmund's face grow darker. Though he had always enjoyed an audience, he knew his big brother preferred to practice alone. Though, Tane supposed that he wouldn't want to spar in public if his own little brother continuously beat him, but then again, his little brother wasn't the third captain of the guard, so it was different.

With the corner of his eye, he noticed as Saina slipped around the combat area to sit with Lars, who shifted over to make room for her without lifting his eyes from his map. He snapped his attention back to Edmund as he made a halfhearted strike, and batted it away with a flick of his sword.

"Gotta try harder than that!" He said, dancing in to take a strike of his own. Edmund parried it grimly, not responding. They traded blows for a while, each one getting used to the weight and heft of their weapon, until Tane decided to kick things up a notch. He feinted at Edmund's right shoulder, and when Edmund went to block he pulled the blow and slashed at his left. Edmund leapt back out of the way, stumbling slightly as the ship heaved under his feet. Tane pressed his advantage, herding his brother backwards towards a pile of ropes as Edmund tried to regain his balance. Edmund swore quietly under his breath, doing his best to parry the blows that Tane was raining on him.

Tane saw an opening and went for it, trying to slip under his brother's guard. Edmund quickly countered it and used the momentum to slip around Tane, getting away from ropes that could trip up his feet. Tane smiled at him, proud that he had been aware. The first couple of times that he had demanded a spar on the deck, Edmund had been tripping over everything. Tane considered it to be his success as much as Edmund's when he began to improve, seeing as he was basically teaching his brother. He brought his slipping attention back to the match just in time to deflect a lunge towards his heart, parrying it with a short slice at Edmund's legs that had him jumping backwards. They circled each other warily, each looking for an opening.

The ship tilted again without warning, sending them both stumbling to the side. Surprisingly, Edmund recovered first, and using his claymore in a classic fencing move, he snaked the heavy blade into the hook on the back of Tane's sword and flipped it out of his hands. They both stood still in shock for a moment as Edmund disarmed his more skilled brother, watching as the hook blade sailed out of Tane's hands, flipping end over end as it hurtled over the side of the ship and landed with a splash in the sea. Edmund turned back to Tane with a proud smile, which was wiped off his face as he saw Tane hurtling towards him. His foot connected solidly with Edmund's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and laying him flat on the floor. Tane leaned over him, plucked the sword out of his grasp and held it to his throat.

"Yeild?" He asked, laughing breathlessly, adrenaline rushing through him at the near loss.

"Yeild!" Edmund wheezed, shoving the sword tip away and rolling onto all fours. He coughed a couple of times, trying to get air back into his lungs, and then staggered to his feet. Saina ran over, giving him a hand up and a mug of water. He took it gratefully, and allowed his sister to assist him back to his seat. He rubbed his stomach as he sat and took a sip of water. Saina shook her head in disapproval.

"That wasn't fair." She said to him in a whisper as the sailors crowded around Tane, congratulating him on his forty-third victory. "You disarmed him. Isn't that supposed to be the end of it?" Edmund shrugged painfully, still hunched over.

"He did imply that we were combat training." He pointed out. "That doesn't follow the same rules." Saina frowned, displeased with his reasoning, but let it slide.

"You okay, old man?" Tane said, sauntering over and slapping Edmund's back. Edmund winced, whining good-naturedly.

"I think you cracked my ribcage." He groused. Tane laughed, swinging around to lounge next to Edmund and poking his ribs with a finger. "You're fine." He said. Edmund grumbled, but agreed as he stood up and stretched out, grabbing his shirt and putting it back on. He left the vest on the ground, but he could only spend so long shirtless with Tane before he began to envy the other's musculature. Though Edmund wasn't unfit, he wasn't near as sturdy as his younger brother. He snorted to himself. No person he had ever met was sturdier than his brother, besides the town blacksmith, so it wasn't that demoralizing.

Tane ignored him, still lying on Edmund's old seat. Saina hopped up to join him, and Edmund leaned against the edge.

"What do you think this queen is going to be like?" Tane asked lazily, using his fingers to fray the end of a nearby rope. Edmund shrugged. Saina looked around, and then leaned closer to her brothers. "Hans said that she was mean." She said. Edmund leaned back, shocked.

"You spoke to him?" He exclaimed. "Father said that no one was to speak to him until they decided his punishment!"

Saina shrugged. "Father's mad at him. And it's not really his fault." She said. Both of her brothers stared at her as if she were crazy. She smiled ruefully. "Well, not entirely. I mean, you two did ignore him for what, seven years?" The two boys winced. "And he's number thirteen." She continued. Tane frowned.

"That's ridiculous. I mean, I'm number eleven, and Edmund here's number ten. You don't see us running off to try and kill queens and princesses for their kingdoms." He said. Saina shrugged.

"But you guys have useful skills?" She said, trying to defend Hans. "Tane, you're the best warrior in the royal family since, forever. Lars is one of the smartest. There's only three of us girls, and Edmund is…" She glanced at Edmund for a moment, and tried again. "Edmund is…" Edmund laughed

"I'm nothing special." He said gently. "Just like Hans. But unlike Hans, I know it and I don't care. All I want to do is see the world. Find something new, something no one has done before. I don't want a kingdom." Saina sighed.

"Fine. Hans is an idiot." She allowed, and gave a small smile when both Edmund and Tane laughed. "But still. He's the only one who's met her, and there might be some truth to what he says." Tane and Edmund exchanged glances.

"Fine." They said in unison. Saina grinned in triumph and told the boys what Hans had said about the Snow Queen.

"Well first of all he says that she's as ugly as she is mean. Apparently she has snow white hair and she's terribly skinny and she looks like an old woman…

(Line Break)

_Three Days Later, Arendelle Palace_

Anna giggled as she ran up the hallway in stocking feet, barely managing to slide to a stop before she ran into Elsa's door. She had a precious bundle in her arms, and she couldn't wait to show her sister!

"Elsa!" She sang merrily, unable to knock with her hands full. "Elsa! I have a surprise for you; open the door!" The door inched open slightly and Elsa looked out, slightly concerned.

"Anna?" She asked, opening the door completely and ushering Anna inside. "Is everything alright? What are you doing here so late?" She was dressed simply for bed in a pale blue shift and had her hair hanging loose down her back. Anna smiled at her as she ran to the bed, dumping her armful onto the covers and bouncing up to sit on the mattress.

"Of course everything's alright!" She said. "Look what I found!"

Elsa walked to the window, closing the shutters against the storm that was rising outside and then went to the bed, sitting down calmly next to Anna. She picked up the first item, and then looked at her sister, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "What are these?"

"Oh, they're portraits!" Anna said, grabbing the one out of her hands. "Apparently it's tradition that when a royal gets to marrying age, the send out one of these nifty little portraits. It seems like we have one for every royal child of the Southern Isles." She spread twelve portraits out over the bed. Elsa frowned, counting them.

"Anna?" She asked. "Where is the thirteenth portrait?" Anna looked up at her, attempting to appear innocent. "Oh, Hans? Well…" Elsa raised an eyebrow, and Anna looked ashamed and drew the last portrait out of a pocket in her coat. Elsa looked at it and smiled. It looked as if Anna had been decorating it with an ink pen. The little figure of Hans had devil horns and a terrible mustache, along with swords coming out of his head. There was also a scribble of black ink all around him.

"Anna." Elsa said calmly. "Is he supposed to be… on fire?" Anna looked at her with a straight face, and then both of them dissolved into laughter, falling back into the bed and facing each other. They could barely even heard the thunder and rain as the weather outside worsened over the sound of their mirth.

"Anna?" Elsa asked as the two girls grew quiet, listening to the rain beating against the shutters. "Hmm?" She replied.

"Will it bother you that Hans' siblings will be here for a while? I mean, after what he did." Elsa said. Anna sobered quickly, looking seriously at Elsa.

"No, I don't think so." She responded after a long pause. "I mean, Hans was a terrible person. A horrible terrible person. And I really don't like him." She took a deep breath. "But just because someone's sibling is one way doesn't mean that the others are just like them. I mean, look at us. You're elegant and poised, and I'm not. You're really good at running things, and telling people what to do, and you think things through before you do them, and I don't." Anna grinned at her. "Besides, at least three of Hans' siblings supposedly ignored him completely for his entire life, so my guess is that they don't like him either."

Elsa nodded. "I suppose that you're probably right…" She said, and the two lapsed into a silence for a while, enjoying be able to lay in the same bed like they had when they were younger. Anna sat up suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Anyways! We need to figure out which of the Princes are coming and whether any of them are cute." She said conspiratorially. Elsa groaned.

"Don't you already have Kristoff?" She asked. Anna grinned.

"Well I do! You, on the other hand, are free to flirt!" Elsa rolled her eyes, but allowed Anna to begin sorting through the piles. The time that she got to spend with her sister was rare enough that she would cherish every moment that she could.

They sorted through the pictures using the names on the back and the dates they were sent to order them by age. Elsa picked up Saina's portrait. "If they send these out to possible suitors, why did we get one?" She asked, holding it up. "It's not like we have any male royalty here." Anna shrugged.

"Maybe they thought you were a boy?" She suggested, dodging the playful swat that Elsa sent her way. She laughed.

"But that's a good point. Why are they even sending a girl here now?" Anna said. Elsa smiled at her.

"Well, that makes more sense. If they send us one of their girls, it cuts down on the competition for her two older sisters at home." She pointed out the other two girls. "Plus, since she's the third girl child, it would be acceptable for her to marry a duke of another country, like someone else we know." She nudged Anna, who giggled.

"Actually," she continued. "King Markoff sent some really smart choices. We have Lars," She put a finger on the third portrait in the row, "Who is the third boy, which leaves the heir and the spare. Lars is most likely sent as a political hostage; he's important, but not too important, so he can be ditched in another land as an ambassador. After Lars comes the two girls, numbers four and five, and then three more boys." Elsa tapped her fingers on the portraits as she numbered them. "It's traditional to allow the fourth son and any younger children to either join the priesthood or the army, so that's probably what they did. But once you have one or two royal army captains, numbers nine through thirteen are pretty superfluous." She chuckled.

"Hans failed as an ambassador, and he's probably in pretty big trouble. So Markoff sent me his other three youngest for two reasons; because they are the closest to us in age, and thus the most appealing for marriage, and also because he can't afford to have three useless royals in his court, as they get antsy. Since we have no royal males, they could feasibly be useful here, if we trust them." Anna looked at Elsa, her eyes wide.

"You really think that he put that much effort into picking which of his children to send to you?" she asked. Elsa looked at her.

"Probably." She shrugged. "It's how rulers have to think. It's all one big game." Anna chuckled.

"Well, I'm doubly glad that you're in charge and not me then." She picked up the portrait of Prince Tane, who was number eleven.

"This one's kind of handsome, don't you think? He has pretty eyes, at least." Elsa looked down at the photo.

"How can you even see his eyes?" She asked, taking the portrait from Anna and squinting at it. "The whole portrait is the size of my hand, and it's of his entire body from the waist up!" Anna laughed again.

"The letter said they were blue, right? I like men with blue eyes and black hair." She said. Elsa snorted, her sister's unladylike behavior contagious.

"Poor Kristoff!" She exclaimed, and then made another unladylike noise as her sister smacked her with a pillow. She grabbed one herself and dove into battle, ignoring the portraits on the bed.

The two girls almost missed the harbor alarm bell as it began to ring, pealing once, twice, and a third time.

"Oh no!" Anna said. "Three rings; that means that there is a boat in trouble!" She raced out of the room, heading down to the harbor. Elsa swore under her breath. This could be the boat that was carrying her royal visitors. She had to get down there soon- ever since they had lost their old harbormaster, most of the decisions made about their decidedly small navy had been hers. Without her guidance, they would probably just dither around and do nothing. She had no time- with a wave of her hand she created a simple pair of blue slippers, grabbed her robe from the door hook and ran down to the harbor with her hair loose and in her nightgown. She forced down a slightly hysterical giggle. If only Falke could see her now…

She took the steps down to the first floor two at a time, and then raced out of the door into rain and wind that almost pushed her sideways. Elsa ducked her head and ran faster, doing her best to ignore the pelting rain. As she reached the harbor, she realized with dread that there was no way that she could ask the navy to get in their boats tonight. Even in the protected harbor, the waves were two to three feet high, splashing over the sides of boats and docks alike. The boats were twisting and bucking in their moors, and some had already hit the docks too hard and were taking on water. Periodic flashes of lighting in the distance backlit the tossing waves on the open sea, and Elsa swallowed a curse when she saw how large the swells beyond the harbor were.

She scanned the horizon until a flash of lightning helped her to catch sight of a medium sized ship being tossed around on the waves. She pushed forward against the rain to speak to the new harbormaster, who stood ineffectually ringing his hands at the end of the dock.

"Sean!" She called. He turned around gratefully.

"Milady!" He said. "The boat out there- it's the ship carrying the royals from the Southern Isles!" He yelled, his voice fighting against the wind and rain to be heard. Elsa bit back another curse. She really couldn't afford more political turmoil with the Southern Isles, and if the ship sank at the mouth of her harbor it wouldn't look good. She looked around helplessly. But what could she do? She bit back her rising panic as she felt her powers turn the rain around her to icy pellets that stung when they hit.

"Elsa!" She turned to see Anna struggling out onto the dock with Kristoff. "Can't you do something?" She called. Elsa shrugged helplessly.

"Like what?" she called back. "I can't make it stop raining or the wind stop blowing!"

Kristoff said something, but a gust of wind snatched it away. Elsa saw Anna's horrified face, and whipped around in time to see lightning highlight the poor ship; it was resting atop a wave that was about to break on one of the tall stone cliffs that surrounded the fjords.

"No!" Elsa cried, thrusting her hands forward.

Her magic took that as a command, gleefully pouring out of her and into the sea, and the circle of frozen water spread around Elsa like a ripple in a pond. The edge of it caught the wave just as it was about to crash, and with a sickening creaking crack the wave froze in place, the foreign boat hanging on the very lip of it, only yards away from the stone that would have smashed it to pieces. Elsa collapsed to the ground, the effort of purposefully using her ice magic draining her, and looked up as the driving rain turned into snowflakes. As the cold began to permeate the air around them, the wind began to lessen until all that was left of the ship eating storm was the icy fjord and a frozen wave.

As the wind lessened and the clouds dispersed, the starlight hit the shining ice and refracted all around, throwing the scene into sharp relief. The triumph that had filled Elsa shattered and died when she realized that the ice had closed around the ship like a fist, crushing every single board in the hull.

A/N: Is it mean to stop here? Nah… you guys don't care that much or I'd have more reviews! Haha just kidding- but still. This is clearly the spot for a chapter break.

Also, believe it or not, if there were a way to suddenly cool the ground during a windstorm the wind would die down. Something about inversion layers. I have no idea if the lightning storm would leave too, but just go with it


	5. 4: A Royal Rescue

AN: Hey everybody! So sorry for the length of time between updates; life got crazy and I'm the type of author who only updates when I feel like I have a chapter worth sharing. I hope you all had a good few weeks, and hopefully I won't have such a long time between updates again!

Chapter 4: A Royal Rescue

Elsa sat on the dock, panic, fear, and guilt whirling inside her. For a few minutes, it took all of her concentration to keep the whirling storm inside from spewing out into the air. She was only partially successful; the wood of the quay creaked warningly as her runaway powers caused the ice to thicken by another couple of inches. She closed her eyes, trying desperately to stuff her emotions -_concealdon'tfeel-_ down and away.

"-sa! Elsa!" A hand on her shoulder shook her out of her reverie, and her eyes blinked open. She looked up to see Anna shaking her shoulder, attempting to catch her attention. She seemed… pleased about something?

"Look!" Anna said, pointing out over the fjord at the ship. Reluctantly, Elsa peered out across the harbor, dreading what she may see. As her eyes panned across the dark horizon, looking for the indistinct shape of the destroyed ship, a flicker of light caught her attention and she stumbled to her feet as the golden light flickered and bloomed on the horizon. As Elsa watched, the golden light steadied, and then cut off to black. Curious, she cocked her head, and the light flickered back on, beginning to flash on and off in a measured fashion.

"Lantern code." Elsa said, recognizing the long and short flashes of a code made to communicate between ships in a fleet after dark, when they were too far away to communicate by sound. She turned to the harbormaster, almost falling on rubbery legs. She gritted her teeth and stood straight, fighting against the exhaustion caused by her overuse of magic.

"Sean, can you translate?" The harbormaster nodded furiously, and Elsa tempered her opinion of his uselessness slightly.

The harbormaster stared at the blinking light. "The first few things that they are saying are simple, and then the third message is actually spelled out in letters." He watched the sequence once more as Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff stared at him impatiently. When it appeared that no more was forthcoming for a while, Elsa began to look around the end of the dock. In the amount of time between now and the freezing of the fjord, several people had gathered at the lip of the dock. A crowd of dockhands, children who were usually used as messengers and runners by the harbormaster were loitering there, along with several seamen who had been doing nighttime maintenance on their vessels. Elsa scanned the horizon, caught by a sudden surge of guilt, looking for other ships that may have been caught in the ice. She found none, and sighed, relieved. It was fall, and long after dark. In the fall, most of the fishermen in Arendelle went out in the early hours of the morning and came back in the early afternoon, so the timing wasn't as bad as it could be. She had been lucky this time. The ice began to swirl again -_concealdon'tfeel- _so she was grateful when Sean began to speak.

Elsa swung back to face him, slowing her motion when she stumbled and almost fell. Kristoff caught her by the shoulders, righting her. "Careful, milady." He said gruffly. Elsa regained her feet and nodded to him, embarrassed by her weakness. She gestured for the harbormaster to continue his statement, and he bowed slightly first.

"Milady, they're saying first that they come in peace and do not wish for conflict. Secondly, they are signaling that they have injured and are in need of rescue. The final part that they are conveying is that the vessel contains four royals, and that they are willing to pay any sum for aid, as well as that their father will pay most any sum for a ransom. They seem to think that they have been attacked."

Elsa winced. Kristoff frowned. "Why can't they see that they were rescued?" He asked. "I mean, they were in a huge storm and now they're not. Sure, the landing was a little rough, but they would all be dead if nothing had happened, wouldn't they?" Elsa shook her head.

"Most people aren't as casual around magic as you are, Kristoff." Elsa said. "Their reaction is one that I should have expected. But it's alright; they're alive, and that's what matters right now." She turned away from Kristoff and Anna and projected her voice, ignoring the shaking in her muscles that urged her to rest until she regained her stores of energy. She shook the fatigue off. "Sean, you will find a signaling lantern and respond to their message. Tell them that we are sending a rescue party and that we are not planning on attacking." The harbormaster bowed, then turned and hurried back towards a small storage shed as fast as his bulk could hurry. She looked to the dock boys who had watched the entire proceedings and picked two, one an older boy and the other a girl with a cap over her short brown hair. She gestured to the girl.

"Go up to the castle and send down servants, enough to carry whatever is on that ship. Also, tell them to bring warm cloaks for themselves plus fifty more men. Ask them to set up the guest quarters, and also to set up the secondary servants' quarters as an emergency infirmary." She said, fishing around in her belt pouch and pulling out two coins and two tokens. "This token means you come from me. Make sure you give it to Kai or Gerda. This coin is for you." She held a thick silver coin out to the girl. Her eyes lit up; a coin that large would be something her family only saw once a year, when the tax collectors made change for some of the wealthier families.

"If you carry the message correctly, Kai will let me know and I will give you another coin of this size." She said, trying to impress the importance on the girl. She nodded, snatched the coin and token and fled.

Elsa turned to the boy. "I need you to go to the village and send as many healers and midwives as you can. Try and find at least once bonesetter as well." To this boy she passed a large silver coin and a handful of small copper ones. "If any of the others want to help you, give them one of these." She said. The boy nodded, shot her a gap-toothed grin, and darted off towards the village. Instead of following the quay back into the village, he ran directly across the ice, half of the other dock children following him.

Elsa stared after him, bemused for a moment by their faith in her powers, before turning back to focus on the crisis.

"Anna, Kristoff. I'm sending you two to the boat. Once you get there, Anna, you need to make sure they understand that you are peaceful. You'll be safe, I promise that, but you need to convince them that we are not a threat. Once I do this, I won't have any magic left at all, and you and Kristoff will need to take care of things until I recover. Can you handle it?" Anna nodded, serious for once.

"What are you going to do?" She asked, somewhat hushed.

Elsa just smiled, holding her hands out as if to warm them by a fire. She closed her eyes and concentrated, pulling at the last vestiges of power that she had.

_I need a helper. _She whispered to the tendrils of magic that still swirled inside. _Something big and strong to help us rescue them. And it MUST listen to Anna. _She shoved at the power, forcing it to ooze sluggishly down her arms and out her palms. The magic swirled sullenly before her, coalescing slowly and pulling bits of snow and ice from the surroundings as it grew. As her gaze wavered and began to fade, the ice began to form two heavy legs, then moved up the body of her helper. The last thing that Elsa saw before she fainted was the glowing blue eyes and gaping maw of the ice protector that she had summoned all those years ago.

"Obey Anna…" She whispered, remembering that the creature didn't have the best memories of them. However, even her worry for her sister couldn't keep her awake when she had spent so much of her energy on summoning the golem, and she passed out into the cold darkness of unconsciousness.

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Kristoff blinked owlishly at the ice behemoth that stood, peering at them with ice blue eyes through the gathering gloom.

"Marshmallow?" He asked incredulously. The ice golem opened its mouth and roared, coating Kristoff with a fine dusting of powdered snow. Blue crystals began to sprout from its hands and joints, just as they had before it had chased Anna and Kristoff from the North Mountain. It took a threatening step towards Kristoff.

"Stop!" Anna cried.

The golem's broad brow furrowed in impotent rage as it moved to take another step and could not, bound by Elsa's word. It stomped its foot and roared again. Anna and Kristoff traded wary glances.

"I think you offended him." Anna whispered to Kristoff. The golem growled, and blue ice erupted from its back, forming spines like those of a hedgehog.

Kristoff made an exclamation of surprise. "Her?" He tried. The golem calmed slightly, making a softer noise like snow falling from a branch. Kristoff smiled sheepishly at the apparently female snow golem and took a cautious step forward.

"I'm sorry I offended you, Mrs. Snow Monster." He said. Anna snorted a laugh, and Kristoff glared at her as the golem swung her attention from Kristoff of Anna. Under Kristoff's stare, Anna sheepishly held her hands up in apology.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." She said, feeling ridiculous.

Kristoff stepped forward before Anna's chuckles could break free.

"I'm not sure how we thought someone as lovely as you was male! Silly us." He said. The golem made a strange rumble-purr as it swung its large head to the side coquettishly, as if pleased by the flattery. As she released her combative stance, the icicles that had sprouted from her receded, and as she calmed, it became very clear that the golems form, when not threatening, was soft and curved like that of a woman. Bemused, Anna shrugged. Where in the world had Elsa summoned her protector from?

"Mrs. Snow Golem!" Kristoff said, regaining the creature's attention. "Elsa called you here to help us rescue the people on that boat over there." He pointed, directing the golem's gaze. The construct swung ponderously to look, catching sight of Elsa in the process. She produced a peculiar, mournful cry reminiscent of the lonely wind wailing through icy mountains, and gathered Elsa's limp form to her chest with surprisingly gentle hands. She cradled Elsa to her chest protectively, and leveled an accusatory stare at Anna and Kristoff.

Anna smiled, touched by the golem's concern for her sister. She stepped up next to the creature's foot and patted the top, which was as far as she could reach.

"She'll be alright." Anna said. "She's just tired. That's why she called you. She needs your help." The monster considered this for a moment, then carefully turned and reached across the dock to place Elsa securely on a rocky outcropping, away from the press of people and protected from the wind by a scraggly tree the clung to the side of the fjord.

Turning back, the golem seized Anna in one enormous hand and deposited the girl on her shoulder. With a moment of concentration and shudder of her entire body, she produced several long, dull poles of ice that jutted up from her shoulder. As the golem turned again, Anna lost her balance and automatically clutched at the poles to keep herself from falling. She was impressed with the monster's foresight, and mentally reevaluated the intelligence of the construct.

"Don't forget me!" Kristoff called from down below, and Anna started, rising up on her toes to reach the golem's ear.

"Could you please bring Kristoff with us too?" She asked. The golem immediately bent to lift Kristoff, and Anna was doubly glad of the poles as she dangled from them as the surface that she was standing on became completely vertical. As the golem stood again, she placed Kristoff next to Anna, who scrambled to regain her footing.

Kristoff smiled at Anna, leaning in for a quick kiss.

"To the ship!" He cried, holding up his hand as if leading a charge. Anna chuckled. Kristoff was her favorite, because he brought laughter into anything that they did. She reached out and caught his hand in hers, clinging to the ice spike for dear life as the golem set out across the ice, her enormous legs covering the distance startlingly fast. The icy wind whistled past them, and Anna could swear the air around them was colder up high than it was down low. Anna winced as the ice made creaking sounds under their combined weight, but it seemed thick enough to hold as they made their way across it. Anna had to credit her sister with at least that much. When she froze an ocean, it froze solid.

Though the golem lurched along slowly, taking care with the rough terrain, its enormous stride was long enough that they reached the boat in minutes. A rumbled growl and resurgence of blue ice on the hands and arms of the snow golem called Anna's attention away from Kristoff and back to the boat. She winced at the damage done; the pressure of the expanding ice had crushed the hull, splitting it open in several places. The top deck was barely attached to the rest of the ship, and the mast had toppled end over end and lay shattered several hundred feet down, at the bottom of the wave. The boat itself was cradled in ice all around, with a sheet of ice leaning forward over the boat, frozen in the peak of its cresting.

The top deck was lined with sailors who were shivering in the cold, but stood strong. In their hands were whatever weaponry they could obtain off the ship. Several of them were holding planks that had torn loose, and others carried whaling harpoons. Many of them held wooden replica weapons, and two men in the front carried gleaming steel blades. They were dressed in much finer clothing then the sailors, and also had taken time to claim thick woolen robes from the storage. Anna guessed that these were the royals, and as the lantern light wavered and weaved in the receding storm winds, the shadows across their faces lifted for a moment and she was able to identify Prince Tane, in an emerald green cloak, and Prince Edmund, in a similar cloak of rusty red-brown.

Most of the sailors were pale with fear at the sight of the large golem, and several were making ritualistic movements meant to ward away evil. All of them looked grim and determined to fight for their lives. Anna winced. Perhaps they should have waited for the harbormaster to send off the signals that Elsa had requested, but he had been busy digging in the storage for the lantern all this time and didn't seem to be making progress.

Anna whispered in the snow golem's ear, and the golem made a whining noise of protest like two glaciers rubbing together, but acquiesced. She lifted Anna off of her shoulder and held her cupped securely in her two hands, then sank to her knees with a sound like falling boulders. She held Anna out in front of her and flattened her hands so that Anna could look straight at the men without peering through a fence of fingers. Anna had a brief moment of thanks for the fact that she had been mostly dressed when she ran to Elsa's room, and smoother her hair back from her face. She shifted uneasily on her cold, stocking feet, but hoped that none of the sailors would be looking at that. She held her hands in front of her in the universal gesture that meant peace, and tried to project her voice across the twenty foot gap between the ship and the golem. She had seen crossbows in the back of the ship, and had no desire to get any closer then she had to.

"We're here to rescue you!" She called across the gulf. "Would you please put down your weapons?" She put on her most winning smile and crossed her fingers. She really hoped that this would work…

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Tane glanced at Edmund through a sheet of dark hair that had fallen across his face. Edmund shrugged lightly, the tip of his sword lowering a bit.

"I don't know" He whispered back, responding to his brother's unasked question. "I mean, we really need the help. We're probably going to die out here anyways without it, in this cold, and we have a lot of men who are really too injured to fight."

He cast a glance across the deck. Of the sixty three men who had set sail with them, only thirty one were on deck. The rest were below decks, where they had been carried so that Saina could attempt to bind their injuries.

He snapped his eyes back to the snow monster that had lumbered towards them from the city looked as if it might be Arendelle. "I think that this might be Arendelle." He continued. "I think that for some reason, the Snow Queen froze the ocean in the middle of the storm." Tane sent him a puzzled look, and Edmund shrugged. "I don't know why she would do such a thing!" He defended. "I'm not a crazy sorceress!"

The creature moved again, and the figure in its hands waved at them. It cupped hands to its mouth and tried again.

"Really! We're not here to hurt you! You can't see right now, but you were about to crash right into one of the sides of the fjord and your entire ship would have been destroyed!"

Edmund sent Tane an alarmed look, and lowered his sword completely.

Tane hissed at him. "What are you doing?" He said. Edmund glared.

"We can't fight a thing that big, and maybe they're telling the truth. Somebody has to go with them to check." Edmund said. Tane scowled at him, and then poked at him with the tip of his sword. Edmund leapt backwards.

"I'm going." Tane proclaimed, and called back to the figure on the snow golem.

"If that's so, come here and let me look." He said. The figure nodded, then turned and signaled something to gargantuan snow beast. It lurched to its feet and took a couple of steps forward.

Tane turned to the crew. "I'm going to go see if they're telling the truth. If I perish, you must fight to the death!" He said, throwing his cloak to the side dramatically.

"Until we know, don't attack!" Tane continued. Edmund rolled his eyes. Of course Tane would make the only practical idea seem as if he was sacrificing himself for the good of everybody. All of the sailors clapped cheered for Tane, who nobly (and carefully, Edmund noticed) stepped up onto the edge of the ship, sheathing his sword. As the monster came closer and closer, looming even more out of the gloom, Tane began to sway backwards a bit. Edmund smiled viciously to himself and stepped forward.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go, little brother?" He said. Tane paled, then flushed, and glared at him. "I'm not afraid!" He said loudly. The nearest sailors gave Edmund dirty looks, and Edmund sighed. His brother always had the ability to inspire such loyalty in their subjects, and Edmund had no idea how. He believed that it had something to do with how the girls at home fluttered all over Tane, but he truly had no understanding of the situation.

As the snow monster came closer and closer, Edmund felt the ice underneath them shudder at each ponderous footstep. He peered through the dark and started to make out the shape of the messenger, still cradled securely in the hand of the messenger. He blinked and squinted, finally making out the image of a young girl standing proud, her skirts and hair fluttering in the wind. He took in her slender form and wondered for a moment if this was the Snow Queen. He had expected her to be more… regal than this. Maybe she would ride a sled pulled by the great snow bears he had heard so much about, but he hadn't expected her to be carried about like a small doll in the hand of a great, ugly snow beast.

As they came within the light of the lantern, he made out the red tinge to her hair and discovered that he was slightly relieved that this slip of a girl wasn't the Snow Queen after all, and as soon as he had made that determination, the snow golem bent down and deposited the girl ponderously on the deck of the ship. He chuckled slightly as he took in her flushed face and stocking feet, but found his gaze drawn back to her face when she began to speak.

"I am Anna, younger sister to Queen Elsa of Arendelle." She proclaimed, sinking into a formal curtsy. She nodded to Tane and Edmund.

"You must be Prince Edmund of the Southern Isles." She said, offering a hand. Edmund nodded, bowing over the hand as was polite.

"And you must be Prince Tane." She offered her hand to Tane as well, who took it with a lascivious smirk. Edmund sighed again. He really wished that his father had seen fit to send one of his more tolerable brothers in place of Tane. As he watched, Tane said something that mad the girl's face go red, and then she snatched her hand back.

A thud on the deck drew his attention back to where the golem stood, and standing in front of it on the deck was a massive, tow-headed man with the features of a peasant. Princess Anna pulled away from Tane and stepped backwards toward the new man. "And this is Duke Kristoff, my suitor." She said firmly. With observant eyes, Edmund noted that when she said suitor, both of them moved a little closer together, and it looked as if it wouldn't be long until "suitor" turned into "fiancée." He frowned. That was one royal of Arendelle that wouldn't be looking for a new partner… He had been hoping that one of them would be able to court a woman who wasn't an evil, ugly Snow Queen.

As Edmund was thinking, Tane and the two visitors stepped up on the hand of the snow monster that was offered, and were lifted high above the ship. From his vantage point, Edmund caught a glimpse of Tane's face looking absolutely terrified, and smirked to himself. As they vanished, he glanced around at the men on the boat. They were mostly occupied with staring at the snow golem, and one of the crossbowmen looked as if they wanted to shoot it. Edmund cleared his throat warningly and looked at the man, shaking his head. It would probably be a bad political move to begin their stay in Arendelle by shooting one of the Queen's… pets? He wasn't quite sure what to term the great ice golem as.

His head shot up, looking upwards for Tane in concern as he heard him curse loudly. The hand came back down, and with it, the three nobles. Tane's face was uncharacteristically pale, and he leaped down from the hand before it could touch down. Princess Anna and Duke Kristoff followed more sedately.

"They're telling the truth!" He exclaimed to the men. "You should see it! We're only thirty or forty feet from the side of the cliff, and if we had crashed into it we would be so much worse off than we are!"

He turned to Princess Anna, ignoring Duke Kristoff's warning growl, and swept an exaggerated bow over her hand, pressing a real kiss to the back of it instead of a courtly and polite one. "You are our savior!" He said dramatically. Anna snatched her hand back, frowning.

"No, actually. You all owe your lives to my sister, Queen Elsa. This much power took almost all of her strength." She said. She turned to Edmund, clearly preferring to deal with him over his theatrical brother. Edmund was surprised; women usually loved his little brother.

"How would you like us to do this?" She asked him. "Is this all of the people that you have?" Edmund shook his head, looking up at the snow golem critically.

"Can that monster of yours carry much?" The golem looked down at him and roared, spraying the deck with a thin layer of powder snow. Anna's lip twitched momentarily before she controlled her expression into courtly solemnity.

"She is a little sensitive." She explained.

Edmund could feel his eyes growing large. "She?" He said incredulously before he could stop himself. Kristoff made frantic hand motions at him. "Yes, isn't she lovely?" He said loudly. The snow monster, who had been growing steadily more aggressive looking, wilted a little, and blinked at him like a young girl. Edmund boggled for a moment, then caught himself. "Indeed she is!" He agreed, relaxing as the beast relaxed as well. "Such a lovely feminine color," he continued, "And such gorgeous blue eyes!"

Tane was laughing at him in the background, but the snow monster was eating it up, turning back and forth and batting her eyes at him. Edmund couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips after that.

"I apologize." He said, turning back to Anna, who was also struggling to contain amusement. "How much do you think your lovely friend here could carry? I wouldn't want to overburden such a wonderful creature."

The snow golem, overcome with flattery, covered its face for a moment and then extended its hands, causing the ice blue fingernails to extend. Quickly and with no aggression, she used them to slice the ice away from under the boat, leaving the ship intact in a wedge of ice. She then stood, leaned her head back and roared, and began to grow in size until she had tripled from what she was before.

Anna and Kristoff looked almost as dumbfounded as Edmund felt, he realized with relief, and his brother Tane had stumbled back to the middle of the ship. The newly enlarged creature lifted the boat, ice and all, tucked it carefully under her arm, and turned to lumber slowly back to the docks, doing her very best to keep it level and even so that all the nice people on the boat didn't stumble around and scream at her. She hummed under her breath a little, producing a peculiar sound like a very quiet avalanche. Maybe when she put them down they would have more nice compliments for her.

AN: After all that time, I even give you a shorter chapter than usual! I'm sorry! But I hope it's a better place to leave you than last time, and I will _probably _get around to posting again sometime soon.

I also thought that "Marshmallow" made a better girl then a boy, if simply because I feel like I have too many male charactors.


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